Whittier College

Whittier College is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of spring 2024, had 815 undergraduate and graduate students. It was founded in 1887. Whittier offers one graduate degree and a master's degree in education.

History
Whittier College, founded in 1887, was named for the Quaker abolitionist and poet John Greenleaf Whittier. Since that time, the institution has grown into a distinctive, national liberal arts college. The college campus has about 800 students and more than 100 faculty. It emphasizes small, interactive classes led by full-time faculty members.

Academics
Whittier College is a four-year liberal arts institution. Nearly half of the student body is Latino, and students of color constitute about 70% of the college's campus population. A majority of students hail from California. As of 2017, there are students from at least 27 states and 14 countries.

Whittier offers over 30 majors and 30 minors in 23 disciplines, emphasizing interdisciplinary learning. Students may also apply for entry into the Whittier Scholars Program, in which each student, under the guidance of a faculty member, designs their own major and course of study based on individual interests and career goals. Its most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were
 * Business Administration and Management (62)
 * Exercise Science and Kinesiology (52)
 * Biology/Biological Sciences (40)
 * Psychology (38)
 * Social Sciences (29)
 * English Language and Literature (24)

Whittier College hosts a Faculty House Program, which is modeled after similar programs at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. In this program, faculty are selected as faculty-in-residence for a multi-year term, live in houses located on-campus, and create and host in their homes educational and social programs around a specific theme, such as health and society, writers and writing, alumni connections, and Spanish culture.

Additionally, the college's graduate program in education offers both credential and Master of Arts in education degree programs. Broadoaks Children's School – a private, non-profit demonstration school on the Whittier campus – serves as a learning laboratory for Whittier faculty and undergraduate and graduate students.

Whittier Law School
Whittier Law School was located on a satellite campus in Costa Mesa, California. It started in the Hancock Park section of Los Angeles in 1966 as Beverly Law School. In 1975, Beverly College joined Whittier with the law school, moving to Costa Mesa in 1997. Whittier Law School has 4,500 alumni practicing in 48 states and 14 countries. The school was accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) beginning in 1978 and was a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) beginning 1987.

On April 19, 2017, the law school announced that it would stop admitting students and begin the process of shutting down. The school ceased operations in July 2020.

Enrollment
Whittier College has traditionally enrolled 1000–1500 undergraduate students, allowing most classes to be seminars. Since 1984, Whittier College has averaged an undergraduate population of 1329 students, but the average student body size increased to over 1600 students during the 2010s. Enrollment dropped significantly during the tenure of former President Linda Oubre (2018–2023) from more than 1750 students in 2017 to 815 in spring 2024.

Student life


Whittier College has approximately 80 registered, student-run organizations. The college also has societies, which are similar to fraternities and sororities. Other campus groups include student publications, the Quaker Campus newspaper and television, the student-run radio station KPOET Radio, Video Productions Studios, and the Whittier College Sports Network.

Athletics


The Whittier Poets compete in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) of NCAA Division III. The school has fielded sports teams for over 100 years. Its current teams include men's and women's basketball, cross country, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, lacrosse and water polo, women's softball and volleyball, and men's baseball and golf. In November 2022, Whittier announced that it was discontinuing its football team, men's lacrosse, and men's and women's golf.

The history of the Whittier football program began in 1907, and since the inception of the SCIAC in 1915, the Poets have won 26 conference titles. From 1957 to 1964, Whittier won eight straight SCIAC football titles under the direction of coaches George Allen (1951–1956), Don Coryell (1957–1959), and John Godfrey (1960–1979). Their most recent championships came back-to-back in 1997 and 1998. Twenty-three Poets have earned All-American honors, the most recent coming in 2007. The football program plays out of Newman Memorial Field, which seats 7,000. Whittier maintained a century-long football rivalry with Occidental Tigers. The two schools play for the shoes of 1939 All-American Myron Claxton. In November 2022, the school announced it would discontinue the football program.

The Whittier men's lacrosse program was established in 1980. In 1980, the Poets became a member of the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League (WCLL). From 1980 to 1999, Whittier won ten championships. In 1990, they were recognized by the NCAA but continued to compete in the WCLL. The Poets were the team to beat throughout the 1990s, and it was not until 2000 that Whittier decided to make their mark on the national scene by leaving the WCLL and focusing on being selected for the NCAA tournament. On November 15, 2022, it was announced that Whittier College would discontinue its men's lacrosse program after the conclusion of their season.

The Whittier men's and women's swimming and diving teams earned Academic All-American status—the women for the fourth straight year and the men for the first time after the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) announced the programs who achieved this honor for the 2015 Fall Semester. Five hundred forty-seven swimming and diving teams representing 354 colleges and universities have been named College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-American Teams. The awards recognize teams with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher during the 2015 fall semester.

The termination of football, lacrosse, and golf in the fall of 2022 was greeted with controversy and protests.

Notable alumni
Notable alumni include former U.S. President Richard Nixon; actress Andrea Barber, known from the television comedy Full House and Fuller House; video blogger Cassey Ho; actors and brothers Geoff Stults, and George Stults; and author Jessamyn West.

Faculty

 * Mary Chawner Woody, president, North Carolina Woman's Christian Temperance Union
 * Kristine Dillon, president
 * Linda Oubré, past president of Whittier College (2018 - 2023)

Coaches

 * George Allen, head football coach for the Poets from 1951 to 1956. Former NFL head coach and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
 * Jerry Burns, former head coach Minnesota Vikings of the NFL. Assistant coach for Poets football team in 1952.
 * Leo B. Calland, former college football and basketball coach; highest winning percentage of any basketball coach at USC
 * Don Coryell, head football coach for the Poets from 1957 to 1959. First and only coach to win at least 100 games at both the collegiate level and in the NFL
 * Ty Knott, former assistant coach for the Poets. Former NFL assistant coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints, and Green Bay Packers.
 * Duval Love, offensive line coach for the Poets in 2008. Former NFL offensive lineman.
 * Samie Parker, wide receivers coach for the Poets in 2019. Former NFL wide receiver.
 * Omarr Smith, defensive backs coach for the Poets in 2004. Former defensive back for the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League
 * Wallace Newman, head football coach for the Poets from 1929 to 1950. American Indian Tribal leader and mentor to future President of the United States Richard Nixon
 * Hugh Mendez, Former head football 1980–89 and baseball coach 1971–87 for Poets. Former head coach in Austrian Football League, German Football League and other European leagues.